A neighbour described the aftermath of a taking pictures at a bar in California as “like a battlefield” as wounded victims fled from a hooded killer armed with smokebombs and a handgun.

Police in Thousand Oaks stated 12 folks have been shot useless when Ian David Lengthy, a 28-year-old former US Marine with psychological well being issues, opened hearth inside Borderline Bar and Grill on Wednesday evening.

Terrified drinkers used bar stools to smash home windows as they desperately tried to flee the gunfire on the venue widespread with college students from close by California Lutheran College.

A sheriff’s sergeant is among the many useless and Lengthy is believed to have killed himself.

The flag of the USA will probably be flown at half-staff to recollect the victims of final evening’s horrible act of violence in Thousand Oaks, California. https://t.co/WC3pW8uYvx

Sarah Silikula lives minutes away from the bar and first realised one thing was mistaken when she heard screaming.

She informed the Press Affiliation: “A couple of minutes earlier I observed the music had stopped however actually didn’t course of that it was an enormous deal till I heard slight screaming. It’s very uncommon to listen to something on this neighbourhood after sundown, it’s a quiet place.

“So I used to be about to stroll outdoors when my daughter known as and stated, ‘don’t go outdoors, lock your home up, there’s an energetic shooter at Borderline. They don’t know the place he’s’.”

“I stated ‘how have you learnt the place that is at, there’s nothing on the information?’ She stated ‘I used to be alleged to go to Borderline tonight however I didn’t go, I stayed dwelling. My associates are there, and I simply talked to certainly one of them she’s hiding within the lavatory’.”

Mrs Silikula, a mom of eight, then left her home and noticed dozens of police vehicles descending on the bar.

The injured then began to depart Borderline, desperately staggering to security.

Mrs Silikula stated: “The youngsters have been working this fashion, like a tsunami of injured kids. It was like a battlefield, you recognize while you carry troopers off a battlefield?

“They have been carrying their associates, they’d no garments on and so they have been lacking their footwear and had coated up gunshot wounds with their shirts. You simply don’t know what to do however consolation them and pull them round.”

Mrs Silikula spoke to at least one sufferer who informed her they’d been hiding within the lavatory because the sound of gunshots obtained nearer.

The door opened as they have been cowering in a stall and the barrel of a gun poked by way of earlier than the police officer holding the weapon entered and guided the younger woman to security.

Sheriff´s Sgt Ron Helus was killed after a gunman opened hearth in California (Ventura County Sheriff´s Division by way of AP)

Sheriff’s Sergeant Ron Helus arrived at Bordeline round 11.20pm native time and entered the constructing after listening to gunshots, US police stated.

He was instantly hit with bullets and later died. Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean stated: “He went in there to save lots of folks and paid the last word worth.”

Mrs Silikula stated the neighbourhood was in shock. She added: “It’s so exhausting to imagine. No-one locks their doorways right here, folks neglect to lock their vehicles on a regular basis. It’s simply not the place anybody expects that is going to occur.”

Authorities say it’s the deadliest mass taking pictures within the US since 17 lecturers and college students have been gunned down at a Parkland, Florida, highschool 9 months in the past.

And it comes lower than two weeks after a gunman killed 11 folks at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

She stated: “Per week in the past I might say it’s your corporation. Everybody has a proper to get a gun. However not anymore, now I urge our president to face up for our kids, I problem him to do it.

I’ve been absolutely briefed on the horrible taking pictures in California. Legislation Enforcement and First Responders, along with the FBI, are on scene. 13 folks, at the moment, have been reported useless. Likewise, the shooter is useless, together with the primary police officer to enter the bar….

….Nice bravery proven by police. California Freeway Patrol was on scene inside three minutes, with first officer to enter shot quite a few occasions. That Sheriff’s Sergeant died within the hospital. God bless all the victims and households of the victims. Thanks to Legislation Enforcement.

“He stands as much as so many different folks, he screams and yells to get his level throughout. I need him to scream and yell for our children’ security so my little children don’t have to fret about this taking place to them once they go to highschool or once they exit.